10
votes
TV Tuesdays Free Talk
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
Dropout.tv had the season finale of Game Changer last week. It was a fun game called "Ratfish" where a bunch of the cast were catfishing by acting as someone else, and they had to piece together who was whom. It was a good episode, but maybe the least good of the season.
Full spoilers for the episode, including all hidden information
The Ratfish was Eric Wareheim of Tim and Eric fame, and he was supposed to be an agent of chaos. He definitely was, but he simultaneously had a warping effect on the game and also no real effect at all.
On the one hand, he picked the winner and the runner up, and one of the main mechanics seemed to be figuring out who was the Ratfish, so the episode was all about his choices. On the other hand, the mechanics of the game and the bits that the main cast were doing had very little interaction with him, so he was tangential to the main focus, which was entertainment. Most of Eric's bits didn't really land for me, but if you are a fan of Tim and Eric, they'd probably land for you.
I also found the fact that Eric didn't join for the reveal to the cast to be very disappointing. According to the behind the scenes, Sam said that it was intentional to not include him, but that seems like bullshit. There was a place setting for him at the final table. I think there must have been something that came up that prevented Eric from being at the table. I also saw via twitter that they had a segment where cast tried to guess who the Ratfish was, and that didn't pan out at all; they were unable to guess Eric.
The things that worked though, were incredible. There was lots of great work from the main cast. The set design was incredible. The main concept of the game was a lot of fun. The cast got to showcase their smarts, which is nice. I laughed a lot, which is the whole point. Overall, I'd give the episode a solid B+, but in a season of mostly A or better episodes, that unfortunately feels like missing the mark.
It was also the season premiere of Make Some Noise, and as with previous seasons, they started with the Noise Boys - Josh Ruben, Zac Oyama, Brennan Lee Mulligan. They were incredible in this episode. It's in my top 5 things dropout has released. I definitely recommend finding a way to watch it.
Rounding out my Dropout viewing, I caught Hank Green's Pissing Out Cancer standup special, and it was really good. He was really funny, touching, moving, educational, and, well, funny is worth mentioning twice, because up until this point, I don't think Hank has been a professional comedian. If you like Hank, this is probably a must-watch. I would recommend it without reservation for most people. It is entirely about the experience of having and beating cancer.
I'm excited to catch up this week on MSN and to watch Pissing Out Cancer. I enjoyed Ratfish and I'd agree on your ranking - some Dropout fans cannot handle a B+ among A to A+ content and need to be ok with things not landing with them, though.
Since the concept was telegraphed in the teaser, I don't feel it's a spoiler to say it's a parody of The Circle for anyone familiar with that reality show.
I saw some of the backlash against Ratfish, and it is ridiculous. It's still a solid episode that is super enjoyable. The cast is great and I enjoyed their self censoring, where they would make a joke, realize it was a huge clue as to who they were, and then not send that to the chat. And the set design was superlatively good. That got lost in a few details about how the game was run.
Have you watched the circle? I haven't even heard of it, so unlike the other homage / parody series (Bachelor and Survivor) I didn't really have anything to compare it to.
I watched an episode or two of The Circle, but I have some online acquaintances obsessed. It's very similar in that they're alone in their rooms, "talking" their way through chat the way the cast did on Ratfish and trying to make friends or catfish them depending on their goals. So this is all very "on-brand" for the parody version. It's on Netflix if you want to watch a bit to get the vibe.
Oh wow, six seasons and I had never heard of it until this parody! I guess I am very out of touch with reality tv.
I think it first dropped during COVID or maybe it got big then, like I think Masked Singer did, but it had that pandemic isolation vibe either way.
It's so easy to miss niche stuff though. And as popular as this is I think niche applies.
The Acolyte unfortunately continues to be pretty bad. Episode 5 was a lot better than the previous few episodes but the amount of negative criticisms I have outnumber the positives to such a degree that I won't even bother listing all of it. It's just very dumb. The fights in this episode were mostly pretty well done though, and even then, they kept fucking cutting away from them. That's the best I can do in terms of anything resembling praise lol
House of the Dragon is thankfully really showing up. Season 2 is off to such a great start and it's the exact opposite of The Acolyte - I can find nearly no bad things to say about it! I only have positive things to say. Practically everything about it is incredible. Super hyped for the rest of the season!!
It's a really stark contrast to first watch an episode of one of the above, and then an episode of the other. It's like night and day.
I've been absolutely loving The Acolyte so far. What's been standing out for me has been the fight choreography and the focus on unarmed combat. That said, this particular Sith's fighting style is such a breath of fresh air for me. They're so aggressive! The creative use of lightsaber and Force powers is pretty satisfying to watch. An analogy that may or may be understood...most of the Jedi fight like Siegfried, this Sith fights like Nightmare from Soul Caliber 3.
I don't think your views are wrong, nor my views right. I think perhaps The Acolyte isn't for you and that's okay. I watched the first season of Game of Thrones and it wasn't for me, so that's why I don't watch House of the Dragon.
I dropped The Acolyte after the second
seasonepisode... and I'm thinking I won't bother with any new Star Wars properties until they get high praise.I need to catch up with House of the Dragon. To be honest, I wasn't confident that it would be good, but it seems to be on the right track.
I kind of wish they'd retire Star Wars for a few years... or just do Darth Bane. Give us some interesting Sith for a change.
It's in its first season. Maybe you mean The Mandalorian?
In my opinion House of the Dragon is as good as Game of Thrones when it was at its best. Definitely catch up with it, I think you won't regret it!
derp -- episode! Mando isn't safe either, though. They should ditch the stupid child and give us a baddie of the week space western bounty hunter. No jedi, no empire etc --- give me the dark underbelly of the universe.
I'm gonna catch up with House of Dragon tonight. I really hope they learned a lot from GoT and don't get lazy.
Ah! That makes sense, don't know why I didn't think of that 😅
So that means you missed out on episode 3, a flashback episode which was truly awful lol, so I think you picked a good place to stop watching. It's gotten a little better after that, but it's still overall one of the worse Star Wars shows. I'm only still watching because the episodes are less than 30 minutes (which, wtf is up with that? This is a drama, not a sitcom) and only once a week. Anyway yeah I thought the first season of The Mandalorian was pretty good, season 2 was still alright, but by season 3 they were just making too many of the mistakes that are also present in all their shows (Andor mostly excepted).
oh wait! I think I saw that flashback episode. That's why I quit.
We're totally on the same track. Of all of them, the episode that stuck with me most was from the Book of Boba Fett where he's with the tribe and all that.
I just hate almost everything that's come out of Star Wars since they fucked up with Ben Solo.
I'm loving The Acolyte. I'm really enjoying all of the characters, and the visuals are also really fun. I would assume the difference is because I don't typically like Star Wars stuff, but my husband does and he's enjoying it too. I especially loved the flashback episode!